Friday, April 17, 2009

Proposed Bayside church cause of concern

Property owners and residents on 210th Street in Bayside are less than delighted at the prospect of a Korean church putting up a house of worship in their neighborhood. Records on file with the city Department of Buildings indicate that Jesus Covenant Church, now located on the second floor of a commercial building at 34-57 Francis Lewis Blvd., is planning construction of a one-story structure on the site at 26-18 210th St. and property owners near the site are concerned the structure would be out of character with the rest of the neighborhood, mostly one-family homes. Concerns that the church would cause major parking problems on the street were also expressed.

At a recent meeting of Community Board 11, board officials said that as churches are considered community facilities and can be erected "as of right", they would be able to ensure only that all zoning regulations were being complied with. An alteration of an existing home was originally proposed for the site, but it underwent a change of occupancy and use on March 16. A house on the property was torn down to make way for the church, and the foundation for the church is already in place.

25 comments:

Anonymous
said...

So wait.. in Bayside they actually try to stop this but in Flushing, (for example Bayside Ave)they don't give a shit... I see how it is now.. cuz its a "white neighborhood" they feel they're too good for a Korean Church. Baysiders make me laugh

I'm glad mention of the Bayside Ave monstrosity was brought up in the first comment. My family used to live 3 houses down from that and had to move because it totally ruined neighborhood. There was already too much congestion over there but after that thing was built No one would ever park, huge crowds... Please worship somewhere else.

I'm ok with Churches.. I'm happy for the diversity.. but more than half of those Korean Church's are fronts for tax free living. I don't know how so many were allowed to be built in a residential area, in houses.. I don't know anything about zoning so I'll guess it's allowed.. it really is horrible tho.. it ruined the character of the neighborhood.. and now that Buddhist temple right off Union Street.. absolutely horrible..

And when we got to community preservation meetings all they talk about is how to live with development.

Until these organizations start to address the real concerns of people, do not attend their meetings, do not pay their dues, do not support anything they do until they do those things that are useful to you.

The attitude that "If it doesn't happen in Brooklyn Heights it doesn't happen" has to stop.

I am tired of seeing private homes taken down for religious institutions in their place. It should not be built in the middle of a row of homes, disturbing the uniformity and feel of the community. The majority of the community should have the say, rather than a church wanting to intrude and not blend in.

Religion is such a useless endeavor; I used to live two houses down from the home in the picture. The reason we moved is because the area was becoming over congested and this is surely a sign of that. The neighborhood has become more "diverse" because of the increasing asian population which is the only reason I can see a korean church being put up, but I feel as long as the area still has wealthy Jews theyre going to make a stink out of this.

Speaking of Bayside Ave....If anyone is ever feeling pissed about any overdevelopment in your area or some multifamily just popped up next door, just go visit the "thing" that was constructed on Bayside Avenue near Union St. It'll make you feel a lot better.There are no words to describe it. It is a "must see" situation.

This is all BS. All your comments are a joke. This is not a race problem its a money problem. To, of course Anonymous, this is not a white black thing. This has to do with middle class with no pull with politicians and rich white/anyone bitching about McMansions. Korean churches? You liberal shits you think its all nice and fine but once it hits your hood then its all bad. Its about time you have to deal with it. Oh it isn't near me I don't care, but now you do don't you!

I feel for these people who live there, and agrree with them. The church is what I am sure their complaints are but the situatuion on the quality of life they are used to. I had some people having masses in their yard next door to me . It started with a guitar and an amp and by the third sunday, they pitched tents, overly populated the yard and made noise diliberalty to annoy the neighbors who are elder and on edge. I say take the church and put it at the "r k o theatre on main st.. I pray they don't build that church in the middle of that community.

The problem is how many just use the word church or religion so they don't have to pay taxes. I think they should be totally investergated before allowing any church or temple to go up in any neighborhood. Is there a great demand in Bayside for this temple are your neighbors asian? or are they about to move there asses in like they did in Flushing and Elmhurst. Mr. Lui and Avella should be looking into this and making sure they're on the up.

I've met with the nabe group opposed to this.They are as multi-cultural (Asians-included) as it gets,so it's not racism you dopes,it's just they don't want a friggin' church next door to their homes (who the hell would???).

Community facilities law is to blame and the cowardly city-council (minus Avella who has a a good bill to fight this type of abuse)) who wont do something to reform it.

I attended a CB#7 meeting a few years ago on Union Street. I forget the circumstances but a series of maps were shown that indicated how the neighborhood's private homes were becoming tax-free churches. The progression of the red, tax-free zones was incredible! This post made me wonder how many more properties underwent this conversion and more importantly, how much more are the rest of us paying for this transformation?

Spotted a piece of Queens Crap in your community?

Please note

Italicized passages and many of the photos come from other websites. The links to these websites are provided within the posts.

Why your neighborhood is full of Queens Crap

"The difference between dishonest and honest graft: for dishonest graft one worked solely for one's own interests, while for honest graft one pursued the interests of one's party, one's state, and one's personal interests all together." - George Washington Plunkitt

Sites that kick ass:

The above organizations are recognized by Queens Crap as being beneficial to the city as a whole, by fighting to preserve the history and character of our neighborhoods. They are not connected to this website and the opinions presented here do not necessarily represent the positions of these organizations.

The comments left by posters to this site do not necessarily represent the views of the blogger or webmaster.